Mobile web browsers for iPhone / iPad: 10 Safari alternatives

When it comes to surfing the Internet on our iPhones or iPads, not everyone will be satisfied with using Apple’s built-in Safari web browser. Although Safari does have features such as pop-up ad blocking, private browsing, HTML5 support, Bing search, tabbed browsing, expandable text boxes and text search, it is lacking in other features such as support for Flash videos.

The good news is that there are other mobile web browsers available for the iPhone and iPad, so you don’t have to just use Safari. We found a page over on the pcworld.com website, which provides a list of 10 alternative web browsers for those that are dissatisfied with Apple’s native Safari. The app that pcworld.com has rated the highest is the Atomic Web Browser, which they have rated 4.5/5.

Atomic Web Browser not only enables users to set up advanced privacy controls and activate an ad-blocker, it will also allow them to choose from a number of color themes, customize the search engine bar and even enable the servers to identify Atomic as another web browser such as Firefox and Internet Explorer. Atomic is based on the Webkit engine, so it does bear similarities to Safari.

However, it is said to be noticeable faster in some cases. Another Safari alternative is iCab Mobile, which according to Rob Griffiths from Macworld.com is the ideal web browser for browsing link-heavy sites. The app works in landscape and portrait modes, and can be locked in either mode if preferred. If however you want a mobile web browser that supports Flash video, then Skyfire is the one for you.

The downside however is that Skyfire does not support Flash games or applications. Another popular alternative to Safari is Opera Mini, which is said to offer six times faster web browsing. The Opera Mini web browser also enables users to see all of their open web pages, as well as quickly switch between them. Meanwhile, the Apollo app will enable users to browse the net and Facebook chat at the same time.

If you want a web browser that will enable different users to browse the web on one iPad while keeping each person’s tabs, history and bookmarks, then the Switch multi-user web browser is the one for you. Each iPad user gets an individual user account, so every time you open the Switch web browser everything will be just how you left it. You can see what other web browser alternatives are on the list over at pcworld.com.